This invention relates to arrangements for reducing the necessary minimum dimensions required to install an elevator system, particularly by reducing the vertical space needed above the elevator car at the upper end of its travel and below the car at the lower end of its travel.
There is increasing demand for elevator installations to require as little vertical space as possible. In particular there is a desire in the art to provide installations which do away with the need for a machine room above the hoistway housing the machine and associated equipment for operating the elevator. There is also a desire to reduce the depth of the elevator pit.
WO 99/43589 discloses an arrangement in which the elevator machine is provided in the hoistway, between the guide rails to the side of the car, which removes the need to house the machine in a machine-room and thus goes some way to reducing the vertical dimensions of the hoistway.